#161: From 38% to 55%: How David Mayster Mastered His HVAC Margins // Next Level Pros Podcast

Next Level Pros

Chris Lee

Business, Entrepreneurship

5 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2025

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to a new episode of Next Level Pros! In this episode, Chris sits down with David Mayster, owner of Maester Heating and Air in Seattle. David shares his remarkable journey from Ukraine to building a thriving HVAC business, overcoming personal struggles, and learning the hard truths about running a profitable company. This episode is packed with insights for business owners—especially those in the trades—who want to get their pricing right, build a strong team, and scale their business while staying true to their values.

Highlights:

"If you know how to work, America will reward you for that."

"A standardized offer is one of the best things that I could get for you."

"Numbers don’t lie. People do."

"If the company makes a lot of money, we can provide you a lot of opportunity."

Timestamps:

0:00:00 – Introduction & David’s Background

0:06:09 – Starting Maester Heating and Air

0:10:13 – David’s Personal Transformation

0:19:38 – The Power of Money and Business Purpose

0:21:45 – Partnership Challenges and Lessons

0:28:36 – Pricing Strategy and Gross Margin Goals

0:36:11 – Sales Negotiation and Standardization

0:49:19 – Reviewing the Numbers: Revenue and Gross Profit

1:01:23 – Marketing Spend and Customer Acquisition

1:14:22 – Action Items: Standardizing Offers and Scaling Up

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Today we've got something that's going to hit home for a lot of business owners out there.
0:04.3	I sat down with David Maister.
0:05.8	He runs a successful HVAC company out here in Seattle.
0:08.8	And we got real about the numbers.
0:10.5	We dig into the difference between thinking you're running a 55% gross margin business
0:14.7	and realizing that you're actually at 38% and how to get those numbers locked in so that you can actually scale.
0:21.0	Plus, we dive into his personal journey from Ukraine to overcoming addiction,
0:25.2	turning to his faith and building a thriving business.
0:28.1	So if you're looking at getting your pricing right and find a bit of inspiration,
0:31.9	you're in the right place. What's up? What's up, everyone?
0:48.3	Super excited to have David Maester here today with us.
0:53.3	David is an entrepreneur in the HVAC space. He owns a shop.
0:57.5	Maister Heating and Air. Is that the right? Cool. Master Heating and Air over in Seattle,
1:02.1	Washington, right? Is that where you guys are based? We're south of Seattle. We're in Lakewood,
1:06.3	Washington. Okay. Lakewood. You know, us Eastern Washingtonians, like we think it's all Seattle.
1:11.9	I know. That's what people ask. Hey, where are you at? I'm out of Seattle, south of Seattle.
1:16.1	South of Seattle, dude. So he's at the west side, a little bit strange over there, not quite like a seasiders.
1:24.2	But definitely has a cool story. Has been building the HVAC space for a while.
1:30.7	Family moved here when you were younger from Ukraine.
1:34.6	It's cool.
1:35.4	We actually have several different people that have like a Ukrainian background in our community.
1:41.9	And just cool to see like the hustle, the grid, like the first generation wealth and building.
	...

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